Electric light for cold-storage rooms



(No Model.) fi ,7 ,.j

ELECTRIC LIGHT FOR GOLD STORAGE ROOMS.

No. 5 3,964). Patented July 14,1896.

UNITED STATEs I PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL B. HAWES AND RALPH H. HAVVES, OF SPRINGFIELD,

MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRIC LIGHT FOR COLD-STORAGE ROOMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 563,960, dated July 14, 1896.

Application filed May 2 2, 1 8 9 6.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, DANIEL B. HAWES and RALPH H. HAWES, citizens of the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electric-Light Connections and Operating Devices for Cold-Storage Rooms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electric-light connections for refrigerator rooms or chests, the object being to provide improved devices for operating electric lights in said rooms or chests whereby the lamp will be lighted in the act of unfastening the door thereof and will be extinguished by fastening the same again after the door shall have been closed; and the invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the door-fastening devices, and means attached thereto, whereby, by the operation of said devices to lock and unlock said door, an electric lamp in said room is extinguished and lighted, all as hereinafter set forth, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

I11 the drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the inner side of one wall of a refrigerator-room on which the door thereof is hung, said figure showing said door in open position, and said wall having door-fastening devices and electric-light connections appliedthereto embodying our improvements, one handle of said fastening devicesviz. that on the outer side of saidvwallbeing indicated in this figure in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a perspective View illustrating detailed parts of said electric connections and means for securing the same to saidwall.

In the drawings, A indicates the inner side of one wall of a refrigerator room or closet, and B the door thereof suitably hung to close the door-openingthere shown.

D indicates a hook on said door for receiving and engaging with a door-fastening handle-lever hereinafter referred to.

E indicates an incandescent electric lamp of ordinary type. Y

F indicates circuit-connecting devices attached to the said wall A, in proximity to one side of the door therethrough, as shown. The

Serial No. 592,549. (No model.)

said electric-circuit-connecting devices consist of certain parts, (shown in Fig. 2,) viz., a base h, which is bolted to a side of said wall, and of a plate '6, having secured thereon the metallic spring-fingers 'n 'n, which constitute the separated terminals of electric conductors hereinafter described. Said plate I: is adjustably secured to the said base h by bolts or nuts, as shown, whereby it, and the said fingers attached thereto, may be adjusted properly to cooperate with other devices hereinafter referred to.

The source of electricity for the operation of the devices below described is indicated at K, 1, and may be either a dynamo or other suitable source. Electric conductors o o are suitably attached to the said spring-fingers n n, as shown, and extend therefrom one to said electric source K and the other to said. lamp E, and from said lamp runs another eonductor o, connecting the lamp with said source K, thereby constituting a normally open electric circuit of which said spring-fingers constitute the said separated terminals. The closing of said electric circuit is effected by the interposition between said fingers of a circuit-maker s, as below described, and is again opened by the withdrawal thereof from said fingers. The said circuit-maker s is of suitable metallic formation, and, as shown in Fig. 2, for frictional engagement and electrical contact between said spring-fingersnn, is secured to the movable fastening devices of said door B, as illustrated in Fig. 1. The said fastening devices consist of a vibratory han- .dle-lever P, attached to said wall A, within said room, and hung on a suitable shaft which extends through said wall to the outer side thereof, as indicated in dotted lines, and having on the outer end thereof an operatinglever for swinging said handle-lever, said operating-lever on the outside of said wall being shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, and there indicated by N. A plate w is secured against the inner wall of said room or closet, as shown, having a stop-lug a: thereon, against which the handle-lever P swings when in the position shown in said last-named figure, whereby said handle-lever is held in the position shown when the devices are operated for illuminating said lamp E. The said metallic circuit-maker s is suitably secured on one side of said hand-lever, as shown, and is insulated thereon to the end that no diversion of the electrical current from its proper circuit shall take place when said circuitmakeris in operative connection between said terminal-fingers n.

The operation of the within-described improvements is as follows: Heretofore the refrigerator rooms or closets above referred to, if provided with electric lamps therein, have been arranged to be lighted after opening the door, by the usual means of operating incandescent lamps for that purpose. But owing to the fact that such refrigerator-rooms are ordinarily, in effect, dark closets, it is found desirable that the room be lighted before the door shall be opened, and more particularly that the locking of the door upon leaving the room shall effect the extinguishment of the lamp therein, and to that end the herein-de scribed. lamp-operating devices are provided, whereby the lamp E becomes illuminated in the act of unfastening the door to open the same in the manner below described, and is extinguished by locking the door. lVhen the door 13 of said room is closed and locked, the handle-lever P lies substantially in a horizontal position within said hook D, on the inside of the door B, and consequently there exists then no connected electrical circuit constitutml by the abovedescribed electrical devices. But when a person is about to enter the refrigerator-room, the said outside lever N is seized and swung to the position shown. in dotted lines in Fig. 1, thereby swinging the inside handle-lever P out of engagement with said hook I) on the door of the room and carrying the same against the lug 00 on said plate 10, and at the same time causing the circuit-maker s to enter between the spring-fingers n 21, thereby completing the said electric circuit and causing the lamp to be lighted before the door shall be opened. On leaving the cold-room said door is closed and the handlever P, by operating said outside lever N, is swung again to its above-described locking position inside of the door, which movement of said hand-lever causes the electric circuit to be broken and the light to be extinguished. The said base 71, secured to the wall A, as

shown, and having slots 3 3 therein, through which the bolts 4 4 pass, which secure the terminal bearing-plate 'i to said base, provide means for adjusting the said terminals n n to suitable positions for receiving therebetween the circuit-connector s on said hand-lever P. Said adjustable feature is found desirable by reason of the varying positions in which. the hand-lever P is found in diiferent rooms.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with the door-fastening devices of a cold-storage room comprisin a vibratory door-fastening lever inside of said room, of an electric lamp in said room, a suitable source of electric energy, electric conductors connecting said lamp and source of electric energy having separated terminals near said door-fastening devices, a circuit connecting and breaking device attached to said lever for engagement between said terminals, and means outside of said room for imparting a vibratory motion to said doorfastening lever, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination, the wall and door of a col d-storage room, the door-fasten ing lever P, a s upporti ng-sh aft therefor exten ding through said wall, a hand-lever secured on the outer end of said shaft, whereby the same isrocked, an electric lamp in said room, a suitable source of electric energy, electric comluetors connecting said lamp and source of electric energy having separated terminals n a, near said hand-lever P, and the circuit-connector and breaker 8 attached to said lever for intermittent engagement with said terminals consequent upon the locking and unlocking thereof when said door is opened and closed, substantially as described.

3. In combination, the hand-lever P, the circuit-connector .9, carried on said lever, the base 71, having slots 3, 53, therein, plate 1', the terminals 72, n, thereon, and bolts 4, l, engaging said plate and extending through said slots, substantially as described.

DANIEL B. HAVES. RALPH H. HANVES. \Vitnesses H. A. CHAPIN, K. I. CLEMoNs. 

